Frankétienne, legendary Haitian writer and artist, dies at 88 The pioneering author, playwright, and painter, known as the “father of Haitian letters,” leaves behind a towering literary and artistic legacy. By The Haitian Times

Publié par siel sur 22 Février 2025, 19:27pm

Catégories : #AYITI ACTUALITES, #CULTURE

Overview:

Frankétienne, the prolific Haitian writer, poet, playwright, painter, musician, and activist, passed away on February 20, 2025, at the age of 88 in Delmas, Haiti. A pioneer of Haitian literature in both French and Creole, he was widely recognized as the father of Haitian letters. Through his work, he championed artistic innovation and political resistance, co-founding the Spiralist literary movement. His impact on Haitian culture and global literature remains unparalleled.

Frankétienne welcomed art lovers and collectors into his home

for an exhibition showcasing his archives and latest works,

aiming to raise funds as Haiti’s political crisis impacts artists' livelihoods.

Photo by Saphira Jeanne Orcel for The Haitian Times.

Frankétienne, the prolific Haitian writer, playwright, painter, and intellectual whose work reshaped Haitian literature and brought global recognition to the Creole language, died on Feb. 20, 2025, at his home in Delmas, Haiti. He was 88.

Regarded as the father of Haitian letters, Frankétienne was one of the most influential voices in Caribbean literature, producing a body of work that spanned novels, poetry, theater, and visual art. He was a fierce advocate for Haitian Creole, and his groundbreaking 1975 novel, Dézafi, was the first modern work written entirely in the language.

For more than six decades, Frankétienne was a literary innovator and cultural icon, blending language, politics, and aesthetics in ways that defied convention. His style, a frenetic mix of surrealism and social critique, helped define Spiralism, the literary movement he co-founded, which embraced chaos as a means of artistic and political expression.

He remained in Haiti through dictatorship and political upheaval, refusing to go into exile even as others fled.

Born Jean-Pierre Basilic Dantor Franck Étienne d’Argent on April 12, 1936, in Ravine-Sèche, a remote village in Haiti’s Artibonite region, he was raised in Port-au-Prince’s Bel-Air neighborhood by his mother, who worked as a street vendor after his father, a wealthy American industrialist, abandoned the family. The eldest of eight children, he excelled in school despite limited means, developing a deep love for literature and mathematics.

He first began writing poetry in the 1960s, later turning to fiction with Mûr à crever (Ready to Burst), his debut novel in 1968. In his work, he often explored themes of oppression, identity, and revolution, reflecting the turbulence of Haiti under the Duvalier dictatorship, such as his novel Dézafi (1975). His theatrical productions, including Pèlin Tèt (1978), challenged censorship and became rallying cries for Haitian resistance.

Frankétienne welcomed art lovers and collectors into his home

for an exhibition showcasing his archives and latest works,

aiming to raise funds as Haiti’s political crisis impacts artists’ livelihoods.

Photo by Saphira Jeanne Orcel for The Haitian Times.

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Karl Vensky PIERRE

@karlvenskyP

Aujourd’hui, Haïti pleure. Nos cœurs saignent, nos âmes tremblent, car une étoile s’est éteinte, mais son éclat ne mourra jamais. Frankétienne, géant indomptable, esprit incandescent, vous êtes parti.

« L'Haïtien est un mort-né qui refuse de mourir. » Ces mots résonnent plus que jamais. Vous, poète de l’infini, bâtisseur de rêves et de révoltes, avez défié la mort à chaque ligne, chaque toile, chaque souffle de votre existence. Vous avez sculpté l’indélébile, peint l’indomptable, écrit l’inconcevable.

Aujourd’hui, nous pleurons, mais nous ne vous enterrons pas. Comment enterrer la mer ? Comment faire taire le vent ? Comment effacer le feu ? Frankétienne, vous êtes un cyclone de mots, un séisme de génie, une rivière qui ne tarira jamais.

Vous partez, mais votre cri demeure. Il brûle dans la mémoire du peuple, il danse dans le ventre du créole, il traverse le temps, plus fort que la pierre, plus tranchant que la douleur.

Allez en paix, maître des mots, architecte du vertige. Vous avez brisé les murs du silence, vous avez fait trembler l’impossible. Aujourd’hui, Haïti pleure, mais Haïti se souvient. Et tant que nous parlerons votre nom, vous ne mourrez jamais.

#Woukoukou